Nokia Star Trek Communicator phone unearthed

Back when the JJ Abrams' reimagining of Star Trek was the talk of the town, one of Paramount's promotional partners was Nokia.

The Finnish handset manufacturer released a limited Star Trek Edition of the 5800 in Europe, but that was not all. Behind the scenes, the company also built 14 prototypes of a Starfleet Communicator around the insides of the N76, but decided never to release them commercially.

Maybe the company never intended to, and built the dummy models as presents for staff. Nonetheless, they have become the Holy Grail to collectors and Trekkies worldwide, and, thanks to the wonders of ebay and an ex-Nokia employee, one has fallen into the hands of a fan.

Filming and snapping the device for TrekMovie.com, Michael Fisher shows that the device actually works. It also came in a presentation box, emblazoned with the Starfleet logo. And the clamshell handset makes the trademark "chirp" when opened. In short, he must have paid a fortune.

Surely, if all of the Star Trek fanboys lobby Nokia, the company may think of producing more of these. And maybe put the innards of a better phone than the N76 inside.

Now all we need is for Lockheed Martin to come up with a fully working Millennium Falcon and us sci-fi nuts'll be as happy as Larry.